Mekki Calligraphy during the First Three Centuries of Hegira is the Basis of Mawzon Calligraphies : a Seminar (November, 2015)

              In a seminar organized by the center under the title “Mekki Calligraphy during the First Three Centuries of Hegira is the Basis of Mawzon Calligraphies”, the expert in Calligraphy, Manuscripts, Antiquities and Islamic Arts Mr. Youssef Thanon talked about the time when Arabic calligraphy began to spread in Mecca; the calligraphy that was named after it and called “Mekki Pen”, which means Mekki Calligraphy, where it came to be known at the beginnings of Arabic calligraphy that accompanied the revelation of Holy Quran, in addition to the calligraphies that prevailed during the first three centuries of Hegira, which started from Mecca at the time of Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) under the name of “Mekki calligraphy” to be the first  Arabic calligraphy.  According to him the Mecci calligraphic style basically used for recording the Quran and used in two ways during the first and second centuries and it was developed over the span of many years and in different regions. He also discussed some calligraphy terms saying that they are need to be explained such as Kufic script, which name is used for a number of Islamic calligraphies but that are known to originated from Mekki. However, reality indicates that Kufa may have nothing to do with development of calligraphy. This naming arrived in the 7^th century and beyond. It was given as a result of inaccurate information about the names of calligraphies in their various times; hence, it was given to this calligraphy that is called Kufic in our time. He also shed light on the recent discovery of a Quran manuscript which is known as the "The Birmingham Qur'an Manuscript". He talked about its calligraphic style comparing with the various Arabic calligraphic styles which were used in the Quran writing during the first three centuries and concluded that its dates don't go back to about first century After Hijrah.

Author

Aly